The Deaths of a Thousand Men
by Rylian Heartsan
Summary: The fleeting spiral into Vincent Valentine's own insanity, coupled with the purge of Avalanche... first chapter, see what you think...
1. Default Chapter

The Deaths of a Thousand Men by Chris Henry  
  
Cold. That's what it was. But then it was little surprise. The entire town was iced over. Icicle Inn, they called it. No-one actually knew the real name of the town, for the history of the area fell aeons old, and all knowledge had been distorted from hand to hand in the hope of keeping the past alive, only to be recreated as something quite different. The centuries past seemed to be filled with legend and fairytale, a world laden with mythical qualites that could rarely be described by voice or hand. Of course, the planet and period as it stood now would fall to the same fate, a forgotten mass of unearthly stories and quaint understandings.  
  
Vincent thought steadily as he looked out over the blizzard swept plains of the surrounding area. What would happen to his own memory when he died? He decided that he didn't want to think about it. Reduced to a mere pinpoint in time, nothing gained nor lost. The thin line between life and death that Vincent had trodden during his time in the Mansion had altered him, this was for certain. But the line between the state of his own mind and ruthless insanity fell even thinner than that, and he could feel himself slipping at times. Into a state of timeless inaction; twenty hours ran as twenty minutes, and vice-versa. The laws of physics didn't seem to apply to the mind of Vincent Valentine anymore... after the Sephiroth encounter he was reduced to a wanderer, attempting to find another reason for existance.  
  
"Damn you Sephiroth!" Vincent roared out to the empty plains, choked with anguish.  
  
"Damn you..."  
  
In a vague and terrible way, Vincent cursed the death of Sephiroth. He had nothing left to offer. And as for Cloud and the others... how could he identify with them when he had nothing left to live for himself? Cloud and Tifa together in Costa Del Sol, Barret and Marlene in Coral, Nanaki in Cosmo Canyon, and Yuffie in Wutai. Cait Sith had been deactivated after the battle, and Cid was now living in the newly revived Tirana, formerly known as Rocket Town. But they knew nothing of his feelings and fears. They were driven by desire, by the 'right thing'...  
  
"Am I...am I only upon this planet for the purpose of murder?" growled Vincent under his breath, despite the solitude. An internal battle raged within Valentine, and he had only one answer which wasn't even his own.  
  
"I must talk to Lucrecia... She'll know the answer..."  
  
And she did know the answers, but they were not for Vincent to know...  
  
**************************************************************************** *******  
  
"Cloud! Clouddddd!" yelled Tifa. The slick Costa Del Sol breeze lapped around her lungs and cushioned her voice as she called to the town below. The young Tifa, now in her late twenties, sighed and turned back into the living room of her home, where Yuffie stood impatiently looking around her surroundings.  
  
"Well? Where'd he go?" Yuffie quickly asked. She was growing bored of waiting.  
  
"Calm down, he'll be here soon. He just went out to catch some fish. He'll be back."  
  
Yuffie stared at Tifa oddly.  
  
"Cloud a... fisherman?"  
  
"Hardly!" Tifa laughed as she spotted the disgusted look on her young friend's face, "He's just bored these days. Nothing to do you see. So he's been trying new things other than fighting."  
  
"Ahh." Yuffie murmured. Cloud bored of his swordplay? Something was weird in the Strife homeworld.  
  
"Not THAT bored of it though." Tifa grinned. She knew why Yuffie had turned up; for a fight. The young samurai had taken up her nomad existence once again after the fight against Sephiroth. Although she was now officially the deputy chief of Wutai, she had been urged to leave once again by Godo, who wanted to see Yuffie become even stronger in order to protect Wutai when he died.  
  
Not that any materia would be used. The use of any materia had been banned according to the Mideel Convention, passed by the WPO three years hence, with a penalty of five years imprisonment if the rules were to be breached. However, there were no actual rules on the possession of materia, so the former members of Avalanche always kept it handy... just in case something unthinkable could ever happen again.  
  
"I'll kick his ass this time." Yuffie said. Tifa laughed a little, but not in spite.  
  
"You're confident. You'll have to get past me first."  
  
"No worries. I'm way stronger than I was six months ago!"  
  
Tifa and Cloud were now the leaders of the Costa Del Sol Combat Arena, and they were undoubtably the two most powerful fighters there. They had set up the centre two years after the Sephiroth incident to make a little cash, and seven years later it was now the most revered arena in the world, sprouting similar venues all over the world. Yuffie had conquered them all... all except the Strifes.  
  
Finally, Tifa got to her feet and stretched.  
  
"Come on, let's go." she nodded to Yuffie, who excitedly got to her feet and grasped at her Conformer.  
  
"Of course!" she shouted with delight and followed Tifa through the house, down the stairs into the basement and through the backdoor. Then, letting themselves out through the backgate, they made their way across the road to the arena, which stood head and shoulders above every other building there. Once inside, Tifa walked towards the staff entrance and nodded to Yuffie.  
  
"You've been here before, it's no different. Get signed in and I'll meet you downstairs."  
  
Yuffie registered at the front desk and waited. She had been travelling for so long in order to be ready for this battle... climbing to the top of the Coral mountains and embarking in deep meditation for over a month... fighting her way through the ruined Midgar on her own, despite the fact that it was now a walled prison within the city itself...battling with Godo continuously for days at a time... and finally, the different arenas around the world. The battles she had faced! Her fight against Cid in Rocket Town, the Gold Saucer Battle Arena...but there was one fight...one battle which she daren't tell anyone of, and yet, her heart told her to tell of her previous opponent. In her heart she knew that it was the real reason that she had arrived in Costa Del Sol... not because she believed herself to be ready, but because she had now found a friend that had been missing for eight long years...  
  
"...Vincent...Where the hell are you..." 


	2. Physical Battle & Mental Torment

1 Physical Battle, Mental Battle  
  
Yuffie stepped out onto the battle arena dressed in a dark uniform, which Tifa recognised as the uniform of the Wutai National Guard. She was certainly up for the challenge this time. At the entrance of the competitor, the crowd went wild. It had been half an hour since Yuffie Kisgargi had signed in to battle, and in that time most of the population of Costa Del Sol had dropped everything and rushed towards the arena. People loved to see the Strifes in battle, but now that they knew the famous Yuffie, daughter of Godo had arrived in the town… it promised to be a fight to remember. Mass cheers erupted and blasted right around the arena itself, and Yuffie bowed to those who cheered her on. Tifa smiled and stood right in the middle of the arena itself, decked out in her traditional outfit of white, low-cut top and black battle shorts. Her hair had been cut shorter though, and her face had taken on a new level of maturity over the years. Tifa was now a woman, and there was no mistaking the incredible levels of skill she had acquired over the years.  
  
"Yuffie Kisgargi!" Tifa shouted, keeping to the official procedure of the fight, "Before you have the opportunity to fight the leader of this arena, you have to defeat me in battle! Do you accept the challenge?"  
  
Yuffie grinned. She wasn't going to back out. Her other problems could wait until after she ripped Tifa and Cloud to pieces.  
  
"I accept." Yuffie grimaced suddenly, concentrating.  
  
"In that case, I propose that this battle be one without weapons. Do you accept this pre-condition, or would you like to withdraw now?"  
  
It annoyed Yuffie, but there was nothing she could do. It was up to the leaders of the arenas themselves to set the criteria for the battle at hand, and Tifa had every right to her request. Anyway… she was no slouch herself when it came to hand-to-hand combat.  
  
"Fine, if that's the way it's gotta be." Yuffie retorted.  
  
"It is."  
  
Tifa moved back to the side of the circle in the middle of the arena. The battleground itself was made up of a purely white floor, and a box of around 50 meters squared. In the centre lay a circle that took up around a tenth of the full area of the arena itself. At either side of the circle, Yuffie and Tifa stood, waiting for the battle to begin. Eyes met and stared each other down. Their minds were set; until the end of the fight, they were no longer friends, but mortal enemies.  
  
The silence of the stadium was interrupted by a clear voice speaking over the tannoy to both competitors.  
  
"The fight will begin after the bell. 5, 4…"  
  
Yuffie slowly crouched down, her hands crossed and smiling at Tifa she got herself into position.  
  
"3…2…"  
  
Tifa grinned back and placed her right foot behind her body, getting ready to make her move. However, she put her hands behind her back, and Yuffie wondered what was going on. But there was little time for wonder in the world that lay before them both now.  
  
"…1…!"  
  
Yuffie got ready to spring, the anticipation burning through her body. Tifa on the other hand remained calm. There was a childish element to Yuffie's nature that always seemed to come out in battle. But would it be a beast to Tifa or a burden to its owner? And suddenly, all sense and reason fell to ground, for the bell had struck true and the battle was underway.  
  
  
  
"…Vincent?"  
  
Why am I here…thought Vincent as he stared into the abyss under the waterfall. He shouldn't have come… he should have just died…  
  
"Hello Lucrecia."  
  
The voice of Lucrecia came from the abyss itself. Vincent looked downwards and he could see a canyon stretching downwards, below the waterfall and through the earth itself, but Lucrecia remained simply a being of words and spirit, with no body left. Vincent had returned nine years ago with the intention of killing Lucrecia, since that was her wish. After putting her through unbelievable pain and torment, he was finally able to rid her of her body, but that was all. She remained in the same place as a spirit, and could not leave the space under the waterfall to which she had confined herself all those years ago. Vincent, believing he had failed, vowed never to return to the waterfall or Lucrecia, for fear of hurting her once more… but nine years had passed, and it was all Vincent had left to him.  
  
"It is good… to feel your presence again…"  
  
"Lucrecia…" 


End file.
